Many devices and structures are known for storing and/or displaying various items, particularly in the ready-to-assemble furniture industry. Most storage structures, however, are designed to be assembled only in a single configuration. Some though are designed to be assembled in any one of a plurality of different configurations.
As to the latter type, U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,657 to Hiltzman shows a modular shelf system including a plurality of rectangular shelf modules which can be assembled in various configurations. Each shelf module has two male connecting members on one long side and two female connecting members on the other long side. Several shelf modules can be connected together along their long sides by inserting the male connecting members of one shelf module into the female connecting members of another shelf module. Further, in each module, one short side has a plurality of spaced apart apertures while the other short side has a plurality of spaced apart connectors adapted to be inserted into the apertures in the short side of another shelf module. Several shelf modules can be connected together along their short sides by inserting the plurality of connectors of one shelf module into the plurality of apertures of another shelf module.
A major disadvantage of the modular shelf system of Hiltzman is that the short sides and long sides do not include mating structures which can cooperate with one another. That is, it is not possible to connect the short side of one shelf module to the long side of another shelf module since the long sides have unique male and female connecting members whereas the short sides have different connecting members, i.e., the unique connectors and corresponding apertures. The inability to connect the long sides of the modules to the short sides of the modules resulting from the presence of two different cooperating connecting mechanisms, significantly limits the number of different configurations that can be formed using the modules of Hiltzman.
It is therefore desirable to provide a system of individual modules which can be assembled together in various configurations without limitations on the manner in which the modules can be connected together and specifically so that each side of every module can mate with more than one side of the other modules. It is also desirable to provide a modular system including a kit of various sized and shaped modules which can be assembled in a variety of different configurations so that the assembled structure can be used for storage and/or display purposes.